Monsters that punch above their CR

[Voi_D_ragon]

Oh, and let's not forget that Solars if taken on their own without any strings attached in straight up combat in an open space will kill anything.
Anything.

 

[cmad1977]

The lowly stirge has been the bane of many a party.

 

[Azzy]

At CR 1/8, you have the mighty Pony, with 11 HP, and a melee attack with +4 to hit that deals 2d4+2 damage. Against level 1 PCs, a group of ponies is a real threat.

LOL. So ponies usurp the domestic cat as the unforseen bane of low-level character in this edition.

 

[Zardnaar]

I once had an encounter composed entirely of quicklings from Volo's. They are labelled CR1 but they've got more bang than some CR 2 creatures I've used. They have 3 attacks, each with +8 to hit. AC 16 is already fairly respectable but on top of that attacks have disadvantage unless they are incapacitated or restrained which not all groups will have ready access to at low levels. You might then be tempted to use area of effects to take them down, but they have evasion meaning its hard to damage them with Dex saves based effects, which I find to be one of the most common for lower level spells. To top it all off with 120 feet of movement they can pretty much get anywhere they want on the battlefield if there's enough room for them to maneuver.

So yea, half of the party went down that fight and one of my players will probably never let me hear the end of it

I puilled something like this off in 2E. It had an ac of -3 (23 in modern D&D) and with improved invisibility it became -7 (27).

It only had +3 or so to hit, was even faster and had 3 attacks for 1d4 each attack. It didn't hang around to receive attacks though just did lots of drive by's and ran off. Easy to get some way to counteract he disadvantage and ready an action to whack it in 5E so AC 16 is not that hard to hit.

Anything CR 2-4 or so that can use fireball or lightning bolt is nasty as well. Flameskulls and the various spell casters in PotA, even Hellhounds in packs.

 

[Older Beholder]

The lowly stirge has been the bane of many a party.

I was going to say getting killed by a Stirge really stings,
but more accurately it really 'sucks'

 

[77IM]

At CR 1/8, you have the mighty Pony, with 11 HP, and a melee attack with +4 to hit that deals 2d4+2 damage. Against level 1 PCs, a group of ponies is a real threat.

 

[Volund]

Flying Snakes - 1/8 CR. Only 5 hp, but AC 14, 60ft fly speed with Flyby ability. +6 to hit doing 1 piercing plus 7 poison. Against a swarm of them, if you don't have AoE damage (or poison resistance), you will die.

 

[Seramus]

LOL. So ponies usurp the domestic cat as the unforseen bane of low-level character in this edition.

Don't underestimate domestic cats! If they are bloodlusted for some reason, the XP budget for 4 level 4 characters would be:

Easy: 50 Cats.
Medium: 100 Cats.
Hard: 150 Cats.
Deadly: 200 Cats.

At 2HP per cat, that is more effective HP than an equivalent XP budget of Orcs. And enemy attacks often overkill cats, causing most of the parties damage to go to waste. If the cats are being controlled by someone clever, they can even use their 40 speed and 30 climb to fight like quicklings: just eat those attacks of opportunity and constantly hit and run, or drop from trees or the ceiling.

Oh, and nobody expects that first cat attack.

 

[gyor]

Oh, and let's not forget that Solars if taken on their own without any strings attached in straight up combat in an open space will kill anything.
Anything.

I think an Empryean can take a Solar.

 

[Stalker0]

I think an Empryean can take a Solar.

The key to the Solar is its 150 ft flying speed. Effectively unless you have a means of immobilizing it, it can kite indefinitely, or it can just teleport back 120 feet if necessary.

So for an Empryean vs a Solar it comes down to Bolt vs Slaying Longbow. Overall, bolt has a +3 attack advantage (+2, and the Solar's AC is 1 lower) and gets to attack twice through the legendary action. Slaying Longbow does just under twice the damage (42 vs 24), and has the chance of an insta-kill at the 100 hp mark.

Now if that was the whole show than the Emp might have a chance. However, the Solar has healing at-will. It can simply get out of distance, and heal itself to full. The Emp can never catch it.